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  1. #1
    Senior Member Thuull's Avatar
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    Fun Deck, but pretty effective

    I started a few days ago with the base idea for this. The original idea got beat a lot, but was very fun to play. Yesterday I revisited it and really focused down on the strategy and build, and if played right has been very effective in the low 300s ladder range. Gravebone still beats up on it pretty bad, but otherwise it actually works.

    The basic idea is control leading to draw damage due to depleted deck, while running a non-depletable deck yourself. I've played with lots of different ways to do this so far, but this one is the most successful yet.


    30 cards
    Elementalis – 2: sacrifice friendly ally, gain 5 health
    4x Spark – 1: 1/1 +1/+1 per spark in play
    4x Brutalis – 2: 1/4
    4x Energy Discharge – 5: all enemy allies destroyed, hero takes 5 damage
    4x Conversion – 2: destroy friendly ally, gain health = ally health
    4x Transference – 3: place random card from enemy hand into your hand
    3x Mind Control – 5: you gain control of target enemy ally
    2x Eternal Renewal – 5: shuffle the cards in your graveyard back into your deck
    4x Bad Santa – 2: both players draw three cards

    Why 30?: Because you don't need more, and you have to be able to rely on your hand from initial draw. 2x Eternal Renewal means a never ending deck as long as you never sacrifice one of the two.

    Why no Bazaar?: Because you need this to play as slowly as you can up until the point where the opponent is low/out of deck. DO NOT play Bad Santa until opponent's deck is empty and he has 4 or fewer cards in his hand. In that case, it is a 2 pt. 3 damage nuke. Up until that point, Bad Santa is a resource card, but I try to hold on to them because once it's resourced, you don't see it again.

    Why Brutalis instead of Fire Snake?: Because Brutalis gives you 4 hps when you Conversion on it.

    Here's how to play it.

    Beginning game:
    It starts as a weenie "speed" deck. Not uncommon at all to have two 2/2 allies down on turn 2. Don't rely on it, but it happens as Zaladar players will tell you. You'll quickly lose the momentum on this, but that's okay, whatever damage you do before this happens is gravy. Don't worry about your stuff being taken out, either...you'll see those guys again in pretty short order =)

    Mid game:
    Within several turns, you're going to need to start healing up. You should have several "free" sac's with Elementalis by this point, but try to reserve them where you can. Pop a spark and sac, pop a Brutalis and Convert it. At this stage and through mid play this is your strategy...pretty much your only one as your opponent's deck dwindles down.

    If you have cycled through all four sparks, consider going ahead and hitting Eternal Renewal early. It doesn't hurt you to do so too early. If you're still good, just hold with the game plan and wait for your next spark or brut.

    If the opponent gets more allies on the table than you can successfully heal tank, drop an Energy Discharge to wipe the board, and don't hesitate to go ahead and heal the damage right away. You need to keep your health high or you could get caught with a damage spike especially from mages who have been holding nukes waiting for you to drop monsters (and you never giving them any to target).

    Use Transference when able and there are no other pressing needs. This card is key...it denies the opponent something they're holding on to, and 90% of the time it is something well worth having.

    Mind Control, obviously, when something juicy pops up. I played tug of war last night with some Zaladar player's Plasma. I'd MC it, he'd take it right back...we did that twice before I eventually Discharged it. Was very funny.

    End game:
    Sit back and watch his health drop when he can't draw cards. If you didn't sack all of your Santa's, drop those at will at this point. Some players will see what's coming and draw up to a full hand in the last few rounds...in that event, it is *not* a draw/loss...simply cycle through your own graveyard until you have 4 sparks in your hand. Drop them all and next round blast away. If your opponent interrupts and derails it, be patient. He's not getting his cards back, you are. Just do it again.

    It's not earth-shattering, but it's fun to play. If it goes wrong, it falls apart quickly and goes wrong very wrongly. If you can surf the control wave and not lose it, it's very satisfying, and something you see so very little of. I'm already so tired of seeing Eladwin.

  2. #2
    Senior Member AnAdolt's Avatar
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    If you like that sort of play-style, you should consider throwing Feedback into the deck. Basically, if you've kept the proper cards, you Bad Santa, play a card, Eternal Renewal, Feedback; rinse and repeat, all that through the course of a turn.

    EDIT: Er, I should note you're only able to pull that off about when you have 10 cards in play(hand and field), 10 cards in your graveyard, and 10 resources.
    Last edited by AnAdolt; 03-02-2011 at 08:33 PM. Reason: add edit coment

  3. #3
    Senior Member Thuull's Avatar
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    Hey, thanks for the tip, I'll look at doing that, could be a fun addition. 10/10/10 happens quite frequently =) I'd worry a little about diluting the draw with extra cards though. There's nothing in the deck right now that doesn't seem critical to me, to be cut for something else. Getting to a slim 30 with no drawback is hard to do, there are only two heroes that can pull it off, seems a shame to waste that advantage.

    I'll play around with it some.

  4. #4
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    i'm running an Elementalis deck at the moment. Tried many configurations. Having decent success rates at mid-300s. I presenty running a lean denial deck with max Feedback and Bad Santa. Even at about 6 resource you can chain cast lots of things, eg Transference > Feedback > Bad Santa (fair chance to draw another Feedback) > Feedback > Here Be Monsters > etc etc. I can cycle through 1/3 to 1/2 my deck in 1 turn. Best part, your opponent's hand will be full and he doesn't benefit from Bad Santas. On lucky draws i can demolish my opponent's resource stack midgame.

    As the game progresses, your deck becomes leaner and the combi occurs more often. Bazaar is key to this strategy. Otherwise you draw too slowly to start the chains.

    Key weakness of course is surviving the early turns. Eladwen starting first with a Blake/Aldon start can destroy you very quickly.

  5. #5
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    I also play something similar, however I really like Rain Delay and I'm running 4 of those. If it wasn't for the bug when you can be attacked if you cast them twice in a row it'd be almost broken. 4 Bazaar as well, since I find it a critical card. With that I don't need the conversions and I'm running only 2 Bad Santas since they're pretty situational.

    Too bad the deck fails due to the sync bug after you cast Eternal Renewal. Super annoying to play 20 min and finally having your opponent right where you want him, only to have to quit because of a sync error.

  6. #6
    Senior Member ViTTiE's Avatar
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    i met 3 sparks in T2 when i was playing second, and i cannot remember anything ><

  7. #7
    Member ShiningWind's Avatar
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    Excellent point! Indeed I was just considering this strategy.

  8. #8
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    not a top deck i'm certain but running a similar bad santa + renewal strategy with zaladar at the moment. pure weenie deck.
    allies : 4 x spark, 4 x fire snakes, 4 x keldor (can swap for brutalis)
    4 x shard of power
    2 x eternal renewal (for endless cycling)
    4 x bad santa, 4 x feedback (for chaining)
    3 x mind control, 1 x energy discharge (to take out enemy allies)

    it's always fun to chain cast bad santas/feedbacks and put half your allies on the table in one turn.

  9. #9
    Senior Member ViTTiE's Avatar
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    Now, I'm creating the Elementails deck, and I found out that the energy discharge is the most useful for me. Finally, I end up put 4 of it in my deck, and turn out to use it 2-3 times in one game. -_-"

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